CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Police investigators say a local mother coached her son to steal from a Clearwater department store right before Christmas.
Mahassen Elhadary, 39, was arrested for child neglect, retail theft, and possession of an anti-shoplifting device.
Police say Elhadary placed clothes and shoes into a bag, telling her son to conceal items as well, while exiting the JC Penny at Westfield Countryside Saturday night.
Total cost of the merchandise was $527.
When store security confronted the mother, Elhadary grabbed her baby out of the stroller and ran away, leaving behind her 14-year-old son and two-year-old, according to the police report.
Elhadary denied using her kids to steal when ABC Action News stopped by her Land O' Lakes house for comment.
